Unforgivable
by daemoninwhite
Summary: A little one shot on Lily and James' last few days together. Warning: character deaths.


Unforgivable

There are three curses that are labeled 'Unforgivables'. This is because they are such, unforgivable.

Lily Evans-Potter smiled at her son and husband playing together in the lush green grass that surrounded their home. At Albus Dumbledore's 'suggestion' –well, it was more of an order; no one with any common sense would ignore a 'suggestion' from Dumbledore- they had moved to this quaint little village. Their house was removed slightly from the rest, being at the top of the hill while the rest of the village was at the bottom. Nonetheless, the fire headed woman, her coal haired husband and their emerald-eyed child had become a fast favorite with the town. The adults liked their easy sense of humor and the children were entranced with their child, Harry Potter.

_No one knows the inventor of these curses; it is suspected that the same wizard, most likely a Necromancer from the medieval period, created them all._

Lily glanced up to see that the sun was setting, and smiled gently. "Ok boys; time's up!" She called playfully, slowly rising out of their swing chair that James had made for her shortly after arriving, when it became obvious that she was expecting a child again. James was hoping for a little girl, and Lily privately agreed. Harry would be hard enough to raise once he hit the 'Terrible Twos' and while Lily was currently looking forward to the challenge, two little boys going through it at the same time would have been too much.

She smiled at the sight that James and Harry made. Harry had inherited his father's rat-nest hair, and it sticking every which way, blades of grass scattered randomly through it. Her smiled turned into a smirk when she noticed that James' was in much the same state. "What am I going to do with you?" She asked him playfully, reaching out for the squirming Harry.

"Love me." He replied with that mischievous, cheeky grin that she loved. He kissed her softly, slipping Harry into her arms as he did so.

_These are not your average curses. These are curses that are made for pain, fear, death … in other words, they are nicknamed nightmare spells for a reason. The second reason being that they, unlike normal curses, do not have a counter curse. All it comes down is to the strength of the human will, and even that is not a grantee that they will not affect you._

"Well, if you insist." She said, smiling. Harry gurgled happily, reaching up for one of the locks of hair that had escaped her plait. He looked at her, emerald meeting emerald.

"Mama." He said.

Lily's smiled threatened to tear a few muscles as she tickled his belly, "Yes, I'm your mama Bambi." She replied, using the nickname that Sirius had come up with. She opened the door, and set him on the floor. Harry took two, wobbling, uneasy steps before tripping and crawling towards the kitchen, where she could hear James opening and closing cupboard doors.

Lily shivered as the wind suddenly blew, unusually cold for this time of year. Down below in the village, she could make out lit candles lining the streets, a few in front of every house. She shivered, her hands going unconsciously to the slight bump on her belly. Even though there was no magical reason to be apprehensive, Halloween always gave her the shivers. Well, she was Muggle-born, but the Evans family had never really believed greatly in Halloween either. It was more of an American thing really.

_These curses, while bad enough naturally, have over the centuries become addictive. If you cast one once, you are twice as likely to cast one again. This is how these curses operate. Once they are cast, a small amount of spell residue remains on the aura, affecting your magic. Over time the residue will collect the residue of other spells, and grow until the only magic you can use is the three curses._

Lily shook her head slightly, and walked into the house, locking the door securely behind her. She wasn't being paranoid she was being careful, she told herself as she walked towards the kitchen where the sight of James trying to stick a foil wrapped cup in the oven greeted her.

"James!" She interrupted, crossing the kitchen and grabbing the innocent cup that was about to meet its doom, "Why don't you go give Harry another bath, he looks as though he could use one." She none too gently shoved him out of the kitchen. In reply he gave her puppy-dog eyes, which she laughed off, "Sorry Mr Potter, but you have used that one time too many on me." She said, imitating their old Transfiguration professor. He rolled his eyes, but collected Harry from the living room floor, and headed upstairs. Minutes later Lily heard the water running, and relaxed.

Lily unwrapped the cup, and sniffed it, sighing after she did. James had obviously wanted coca, and he still didn't know how to boil water the Muggle way. She absently put it on the top of her mental 'To Do' list, and easily got the water boiling. Humming a song that she had recently heard on the radio, she glanced out the window, where the sky was painted a deep blue with only the slightest hint of purple at the western edge. Looking back towards the kettle, she noticed a wet Harry running past her. Laugh slightly at the fact that he could run –admittedly, leaning heavily to one side while he did- yet not walk, she scooped him into her arms.

"Did you escape you dada Bambi?" She cooed, heading back towards the stairs, where a red-faced James was waiting. She stifled a giggle at his wet appearance and silently handed Harry back. James nodded at her, and headed back up the stairs, followed shortly by the sound of splashing. Lily released her laughter, and headed back to the kitchen, where she could hear the kettle whistling.

_The first of these three spells in the Unforgivable set is the Imperius curse, cast as Imperio. This curse affects the free will of a person, giving the caster total control. The Imperius curse can be fought, but it takes a strong sense of character, a strong belief in you. Not everyone can throw off this curse; it is better to avoid being hit with it._

A while later the Potter family where gathered on the swing chair, Lily and James sipping mugs of hot coca while Harry happily sat in the middle. Lily glanced at James out of the corner of her eye, and lowered her mug. "James … do you think it was … wise to trust Peter as our Secret Keeper?" At his glare she hastened to correct herself, "It's just … he's been acting a bit oddly this past year, and what happens when They find out that Sirius isn't out Secret Keeper? They'll go after Peter, They'd bet that we wouldn't trust a werewolf with the location…"

"Peter's fine." James replied easily, waving off her concerns. "Yeah, he has been a bit weird, but it's probably just because he's nervous about this war. I mean; we all are." He finished softly, gently tugging at Harry's hair.

Lily smiled at her husband, "Yeah, you're probably right." She replied, ignoring the little voice that was saying, screaming that Peter wasn't to be trusted.

"Come on sweet, it's getting cold, we should get you inside." He said, standing and picking up Harry who giggled happily. Lily grinned and followed them into the little house, again locking the door.

"Here, I'll tuck him in." She said softly, reaching out for her baby, who had just yawned. James smiled at her as she turned and walked up the stairs heading to Harry's nursery. She settled him down into his crib, and tucked the soft blue blanket around him. "Would you like a song Harry?" She asked, fiddling with the edge of his blanket, making sure it covered his toes. Without waiting for an answer she began to sing softly, singing a song that her mother had to her, and her grandmother to her mother in turn.

Lily smiled at Harry's peaceful, sleeping face as she softly trailed off. She gently kissed his forehead. She was almost out of the room when she heard the door burst open, and James shout, "Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!"

Lily stood still, until she heard the sound of a shouted curse and exploding furniture. She spun around, and gathered Harry up into her arms, and ran towards their bedroom, the only part of the house that didn't have an anit-apparation ward on it. She could hear someone stumbling from a room, and prayed with all her heart that it wasn't James. Too impatient to stop and open the door, she destroyed it and kept on running, ducking her head to cover Harry from the falling debris.

_The second curse is entitled the Cruciatus curse, cast as Crucio. This curse causes instantaneous pain, and has the power to drive a witch or a wizard crazy from it. This curse, as of yet, does not have a counter. _

Lily stopped in the middle of their –her and James'- bedroom, and closed her eyes, tightening her grip on Harry. "Please, take me to safety," she muttered, closing her eyes and waiting for the familiar pull of apparation. None came. "God no." She muttered, eyes flying open as a cackle of high-pitched laughter followed by a thud was heard. She closed her eyes. James was dead, gone. Another name to add to the ever-growing list of people killed by Voldemort.

Lily turned and raced towards Harry's nursery where the emergency portkey was kept. This would only work once, but could go through almost any wards. She ran into the room, and turned and locked the door only to come face to face with Voldemort.

"Hello Lillian." He said, a smirk rolling across his features.

Lily glared in response, and glanced for the portkey. It had to be here somewhere!

"Looking for this?" He asked, raising a snowy-white stag.

Her face fell.

He laughed. "Please Potter, did you think I could be defeated so easily?" He asked. "Emergency portkey, no more."

She watched as it slowly burnt in Voldemort's hands. Time to start pleading, "Please, please, spare Harry! Not Harry! Not Harry! Please – I'll do anything-"

"Stand aside – stand aside girl-"

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl … stand aside now …"

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead." She was begging now, her grip on her baby tightening. "Not Harry! Please … have mercy … have mercy…"

_The final Unforgivable Curse is Avada Kedavra, the killing curse. This is the only curse not to have a separate name; it is cast exactly as is. This curse, in a flash of emerald light, kills the first living thing it touches. _

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Lily did the only thing she could think of. She spun on the spot and hugged her baby as the curse intended for him hit her square in the back.

_There is only one known way to stop Avada Kedavra. Place a living thing in front of it._

Her body fell forward, her eyes went blank, and the last thing she felt was her baby's heart beating strongly against hers.

**FIN**


End file.
